Create a great resume with this one simple tip!
You’re making it too hard! If you follow these steps, you will improve your resume dramatically and you will find yourself getting calls and offers in no time!
Know your audience!
Much of the time someone who is writing a resume for the first time or the first time in many years is trying to create a one-size fits all kind of model.
While I don’t recommend creating a new resume every time you apply for another position, creating a resume without first determining your focus will not generate results.
Your resume needs to have a target!
If you thought you could send the same vanilla resume to positions as diverse as registered nurse and corporate trainer, you will end up wondering why you aren’t getting any calls.
- Start at the top of your resume and clearly define your target with a banner headline or other clear definition of what you are seeking.
- Next create a compelling profile describing what you bring to the table:
Compassionate, resourceful Registered Nurse with extensive experience in multiple health care environments, including clinics, hospitals, long-term care and rehabilitative care nursing homes, and home health care. Supportive and personable professional, with broad background in patient assessment and education, wound management, pain management, medication management, and alcohol detox who can help motivate patients to reach medically-related goals. Sound decision-maker, who is not afraid to tackle challenges and obstacles in patients or projects.
- Follow that up with Selected Accomplishments and Milestones to tie in your exceptional accomplishments to the theme created with your banner headline.
- Carry this process out through the resume, making sure there is value in every part of the resume.
Then — go one step further: Use the Back Door!
- When you submit your resume through the front door in the online application or e-mailed to HR, also find yourself a back door way in to the position. Find a specific connection who can introduce you and your resume and sell your value to a decision maker. You’ll sit by the phone all day if you simply apply online.
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2 Comments
Resume Design and Job Seeking Tips
Here are Design Resumes' latest articles on job search, resume design, resume writing, and Linkedin optimization articles I've written.
Julie Walraven
Professional Resume Writer
Here are ways I can help you land your dream job.
You may be halfway across the country or the world. When you work with me, we share coffee, laughs, and concerns. This turns the scary job search into creative, consultative writing and learning sessions.
I love this simple, straightforward steps, Julie–but I particularly like the extra networking suggestion on top of it all.
There will always be people who think they cannot afford to invest in the services of a professional writer. If those people follow these steps, they will at least be heading in the right direction. But you are right about the last point. I see it all the time, even with my clients, they’re afraid to look for the extra connection and so they just apply online and end up looking for that new position that much longer.